Field Journal Entry 12
Date & Location
November 29, 2023
Bolinas Lagoon | 37°55’15.6″N 122°41’25.5″W | 36 ft
Site Description
Bolinas Lagoon, located in Marin County, is a shallow, brackish lagoon that is home to a variety of resident birds while also being a popular stopover for migratory birds. The lagoon is generally flat, fed by several freshwater sreams and is surrounded by grasslands and rolling hills. There is a diverse range of habitats at the lagoon like mudflats, salt marshes, tidal channels, open water, grasslands and riparian habitats. Many different birds species are found here since Bolinas Lagoon has a number of different habitats, however, some common key bird species that can be seen here are Long-billed Curlews, Willets, Least Sandpipers and different kinds of songbirds and raptors.
Species Account
Belted Kingfisher | Megaceryle alcyon
Belted Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with a shaggy crest and a long, pointed bill that are widely distrubuted throughout North America. These birds have a striking plumage, especially males where hey have a blue-gray back and a blue breast band on their white underparts. Females have a similar plumage except they have a brown breast band instead of blue. They have an interesting yet distinctive call where it sounds like high-pitched “rattles”. Belted Kingfishers are known for their aeriel dives where they plunge into the water for fish. Since they are fish-eating birds, they are found near water bodies like rivers, lakes, streams, estuaries. They are monogamous, however, some females may engage in extra pair copulations. Both males and females share their responsibles in taking care of their chicks until they are able to fledge.
Narrative
Like usual, we left Koret at 8:20 am and it was a long and windy drive, so we arrived at 9:22 am. On the way there, we saw about 3 Belted Kingfishers on an electrical line. Dr. Paul always talks about them in Evolution so actually getting a good look at them was really cool. It was a very chilly and gloomy day but the skies started to clear up as time went by. We starting walking down the trail and stopped at an area with open water. There were a couple of shorebirds like Least Sandpipers and some mallards. After spending some time there, we started walking into the marsh. It was so wet and mushy because it rained the day before so there was some low tide. We were standing in the same area for majority of the time while we saw Long-billed Curlews, Willets and some Lesser Yellowlegs fly by us. We were hoping for more bird activity because there seemed to be a lot of birds when Dr. Paul went a few days prior. We walked back and stopped at some dry shrubs where we saw a few Common Yellowthroats! There was unexpectedly some high tide that starting flowing into the marsh so almost everyone in the classs had their feet and shoes wet :'( It was a long drive back so we headed back at 11:50 am and got back to campus at around 12:45 pm.
Sources
¹ Bolinas lagoon. Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. (2018, November 7). https://www.parksconservancy.org/parks/bolinas-lagoon
² Belted kingfisher – ebird. https://ebird.org/species/belkin1
³ Belted kingfisher. All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Belted_Kingfisher/overview
